Shock Trump ban on travel from Europe as China says virus peaked

WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump announced a shock 30-day ban on travel from mainland Europe over the coronavirus pandemic that has sparked unprecedented lockdowns, widespread panic and another financial market meltdown Thursday.

The announcement came as China, where the outbreak that first emerged in December, showed a dramatic drop in new cases and claimed "the peak" of the epidemic had passed.

The virus has so far infected more than 127,000 people globally and killed over 4,600, according to an AFP tally.

The World Health Organisation has classified the outbreak as a pandemic, but its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus assured the outbreak was "controllable", even as cases and fatalities surged in Iran and Spain.

Trump's unexpected move — which excludes the United Kingdom and Ireland — pummelled stock markets as traders fretted about the economic impact of the outbreak that is on a seemingly relentless march across the planet.

European Union chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel swiftly rebuked Washington's "unilateral action", calling for cooperation to fight the pandemic.

Trump, who has been criticised for his response to the outbreak in the US, blamed the EU for a lacklustre response to the virus.

"This is the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in modern history," he said.

Europe is struggling to keep a lid on the virus, which has killed nearly 950 people and infected more than 22,000 on the continent, with Spain registering nearly 3,000 cases and 84 deaths Thursday.

Italy is in the grip of a lockdown never before seen in peacetime, shutting all stores except pharmacies and food shops in a move that has emptied world-famous tourist sites in Rome, Venice and Florence.

Some people in Italy are struggling with the restrictions.

“Bloody coronavirus, now we’re even denied our coffee? What kind of world are we living in?” lamented Roberto Fichera, a retired man in his 80s, on finding his favourite bar closed near the Colosseum in Rome.

Other European nations have rolled out a host of measures to control the virus, with Ireland becoming the latest country to close schools and ban gatherings after reporting its first death on Wednesday.

‘Sell, sell, sell’ 

Following similar stimulus measures taken globally, Trump announced steps aimed at inoculating the world’s top economy from the pandemic, including deferring tax payments for some individuals and businesses — a move he said amounted to $200 billion in liquidity.

Even after the White House clarified that the Trump travel ban did not apply to goods or cargo, the markets still took fright.

“Travel restrictions equal slower global economic activity, so if you need any more coaxing to sell, sell, sell after a massively negative signal from overnight trading in US markets it just fell in your lap,” said AxiCorp’s Stephen Innes.

The carnage on stock markets spread to Europe, with London, Frankfurt and Paris all losing almost 6 per cent approaching the half-way mark.

The European Central Bank on Thursday unveiled fresh stimulus measures in bid to ease the economic fallout from the worsening coronavirus crisis.